Parade's End

[vinteuil]

I admit I had a case of the snivels over the ending of Ep3 -

Anna - we were welling up here too ...

As far as I can see Stoppard has been pretty faithful to the Ford dialogues.

I don't know whether Ford had been reading Proust while writing Parade's End - quite possibly - there seem to be resonant parallels between the comedy of the ghastly 'literary evenings' at the Macmasters' and that of the excruciating Verdurin soirées in à la Recherche ...

[johnb]

As far as I can see Stoppard has been pretty faithful to the Ford dialogues.

Well, he has taken snippets of the dialogues.

Now that I've read the first book of the Parade's End tetrology I've watched the first two epidodes (which takes one part way through the first book) and I found the dramatisation beautiful but also frustrating and irritating. There is little of the depth and subtlety of the book. It is somewhat like reading a comic strip version of a novel you have come to love.

[Lateralthinking1]

Well, he has taken snippets of the dialogues.

Now that I've read the first book of the Parade's End tetrology I've watched the first two epidodes (which takes one part way through the first book) and I found the dramatisation beautiful but also frustrating and irritating. There is little of the depth and subtlety of the book. It is somewhat like reading a comic strip version of a novel you have come to love.

Waffle on.

[johnb]

Waffle on.

?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

For me it's going from strength to strength. Episode 3 last night was terrific. Subtly realised performances and every line of Stoppard's dramatisation was to be relished.

... and I also agree with the comments on Alan Howard and joined in with the sniffels.

[Nick Armstrong]

Waffle on.

the sniffels.

As opposed to the waffles...

[johnb]

I've now watched the all the episodes so far - they roughly cover the first book of the tetrology. The problem is that there just isn't enough space available in the three hours to cover the ground. It seems as though Stoppard made a list of all everything he wanted to include then worked out how on earth he could cram it all in. This results in at least one important 'scene' being omitted, some events moved around and circumstances changed. It also makes it difficult for Stoppard to do anything other than give the briefest of moments to many of the events. But British TV abandoned long drama series such as Jewel in the Crown and Brideshead many decades ago.

For example, before he went to serve in France it was often claimed that he was the cleverest man in Britain (or was that England) and that he had an encyclopaedic knowledge. He had spent some months tabulating errors in the Encyclopaedia Brittanica, from memory (not scribbling in the margins).

When he returned suffering from shell shock he felt as though he had lost two thirds of his mind, his memory had been obliterated and he even began reading through the Encyclopaedia in an effort to replenish his store of information. Little if any of this came through.

Another example - the first time, in the book, that we see Teitjens after he had returned shell shocked was when he was breakfasting with Sylvia. The banker Lord Port Scatho arrived to see Teitjens, a meeting that Christopher had been dreading. Port Scatho had received a letter from Sylvia (whom he greatly admired) which claimed that Teitjens was embroiled in some kind of ménage à trois with MacMaster and Mrs Duchemin. Eventually Teitjens explained that MacMaster and Mrs Duchemin had been married for six months but had kept the matter secret and also explained the circumstances of his being in a train carriage with Mrs D. (This was the first time these events were revealed).

It was during this meeting with Port Scatho that Teitjens presented the banker (not his wife) with the two cheques he had used to pay bills at his club and which Brownlie (Port Scatho's nephew) had bounced. Port Scatho exclaimed "Good God, you're ruined." Sylvia also told Port Scatho that she had written to Brownlie (Port Scatho's newphew) instructing him to sell some securities and transfer £1000 to Christopher's account. Brownlie had deliberately delayed doing this. Port Scatho was shocked, a little out of his depth and obviously feared for his bank's reputation. Teitjen's was resigned to the fact that it would be impossible to get ahead of the rumours flying around due to Brownlie's actions but Sylvia "nostrils dilated" demanded that Port Scatho, who was a member of the club committee, get the club to formally request Teitjens to withdraw his resignation. That he will withdraw it and he will then resign. "He is too good to mix with people like you".

By the way, it wasn't the vicar who recognised MacMaster and Mrs D at a hotel. It was Brownlie, who was there as part of Port Scatho's party. MacMaster and Mrs D had been out on a boat and when they returned their boat bumped into Brownlie's, etc, etc, etc.

And heaven knows why Stoppard set a scene in a gent's toilets (a gent's toilet!) when that discussion between Christopher and Mark was actually part of the conversation during their walk from Gray's Inn to Whitehall.

.... is that enough waffling for now?

[johnb]

PS A useful summary of "Some Do Not..." (the first book of the tetrology which is covered in Episodes 1 to 3) is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Some_Do_Not_%E2%80%A6

[french frank]

The problem is that there just isn't enough space available in the three hours to cover the ground.

Radio 3 dealt with the entire tetralogy in three hours! - and as I remember, it was quite a skilful job in presenting the essence of the work, rather than the detail.

If the first book takes up the first three episodes, doesn't it mean the remaining three books will be squashed into two episodes?

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

...well we may have to come to terms with it as a work in its own right, ahem 'based' on the novels .... ...still enthralling i dont cares what yers are saying it is bloody brilliant .... ahem erm escuse me i'll get me coat

[eighthobstruction]

I'm still watching but not with the avid content of some here....I winse at least 4 or 5 times per episode , and still feel that what Tom S supplied as screenplay should have been scrutinised and visualised a lot more before filming....still too much space around some of the main characters (meaning they do not have sufficient idea of who they are , and how to deliver lines - Rebecca Hall especially....Cumberbach could I believe do a great deal less undulating of winses and expression, though I buy into it a great deal more now he has seen action inWW1)

Anyway who ever said it here , YES, the expression Alan Howards face(Tietjens Snr) was wonderful....and I should imagine Jeremy Paxton is practising that one in the mirror, to be used on some senior Coalition member....

[aeolium]

I imagine that given the degree of cost-cutting at the BBC and the great expense of TV drama (not least with this kind of cast), a lengthy adaptation along Brideshead/War and Peace lines was never going to be possible. Stoppard was presumably commissioned to compress the story into the 5-hour timeframe that budgetary constraints demanded. As someone who has not read any of the FMF books from which Parade's End has been adapted, I am simply enjoying the production as a story in its own right and cannot comment on the inaccuracies or distortions (Stoppard has admitted that he deliberately invented and changed certain episodes). Having said that, I didn't think the Tietjens memory loss following his concussion was skimped over: he was shown in visible anguish and frustration at his inability to remember a familiar name.

The minor irritants for me have been: 1) while the humour in the dialogue has come out, some outdoor scenes have fallen a bit flat imo, such as the suffragette attack on the golf course which turned into a kind of sitcom slapstick with a PC Plod; 2) although the photography is wonderful, does it look just too perfect (a sort of cliche of period productions in which everything looks spotless and immaculate)? And Tietjen's uncannily accurate prediction about the start of the war to just before the grouse season seemed a bit too pat - but then predictions are quite easy in hindsight.

But I'm still enjoying it

[Anna]

I agree with aeolium's first paragraph above. One good thing surely is that it's encouraging people to read FMF who haven't done so before. Ams has bought The Good Solider for his holiday reading, frenchie has bought Parade's End and I am now undecided whether to start with TGS and follow on with the subsequent books or plunge straight into P'sE. (I decided to delay purchasing until the series had ended)

[french frank]

I agree with aeolium's first paragraph above. One good thing surely is that it's encouraging people to read FMF who haven't done so before. Ams has bought The Good Solider for his holiday reading, frenchie has bought Parade's End and I am now undecided whether to start with TGS and follow on with the subsequent books or plunge straight into P'sE. (I decided to delay purchasing until the series had ended)

Watched an episode last night (which I always tend to feel guilty about). Well, yes ... it satisfied my curiosity over things like the production values, style &c, which were very good - excellent, in fact; but which I've sadly come to feel blasé (as in 'world-weary', 'indifférent ou insensible aux émotions vives, au plaisir...') about. [Rather like seeing a photo in the Radio Times and thinking, Oh, yes, David Jason pretending to be a detective.]

What really shocked me was the speed at which the cast list whipped past: I had to rewind and wait, finger poised, to grab a screenshot. Impressed by all the well-known actors in it, none of whom I'd recognised.

I think I would go for TGS first because it would be a shame to wade through P'sE and then decide you'd had enough of FMF for a lifetime . And it would be good to read it while the TV serial was fresh in your mind. Also, if I can't summon up enthusiasm to read P'sE, you can have my copy!

[johnb]

I think I would go for TGS first because it would be a shame to wade through P'sE and then decide you'd had enough of FMF for a lifetime . And it would be good to read it while the TV serial was fresh in your mind. Also, if I can't summon up enthusiasm to read P'sE, you can have my copy!

I've only read part of P'sE (I've now started on the second book of the tetrology) but the single book I have read is one of the best novels I have read for a long time (though that might be more a comment on my reading habits than anything else). It is only 287 pages long and I found it deeply satisfying just on its own. When I picked up a copy of P'sE I expected it to be solid and worthy but reading it has been a revelation.

I'm saddened that most people will think they have 'done' P'sE by watching the TV and that the novel is likely to remain one of those unloved books slumbering, hidden away, on dusty library shelves.